Hey y'all, I'm Danielle - the crazy behind this blog, where I share my creative life adventures as I survive life as a momma of 4 superheroes & wife to my best friend & fellow nerd. Life doesn't have to be perfect to be GREAT! You can reach me at danielle (at) busymomshelper.com - ABOUT -

Every year we have tons of leftover Halloween candy or holiday candy to use up. Luckily now I have the recipe for these delicious Rocky Road Crunch Bars, made from leftover candy! We can make the perfect holiday treat, even gift some to the neighbors, and not let that pile of leftover candy go to waste. It’s a win-win!

Don’t these chocolate bars look festive? I love the colorful speckles throughout them – they’re just great for holiday parties!

I love that these are full of delicious flavor, with a surprise in each bite with the random marshmallows and candies throughout. They cut so nicely, it’s easy to make these beautiful bars into a treat plate to gift to friends, family, neighbors or those random guests that may suddenly show up during this time of year!

Directions

Line a 9×9 square pan with parchment paper or grease a 9×9 foil pan with butter. Set aside.

Fill a medium saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a low simmer.

Place a large bowl, big enough to fit on top of the saucepan without touching the water, and fill with your chopped candies and butter. Heat until everything is melted, stirring constantly.

If the mixture becomes too sticky to mix, add a splash of milk,half and half or heavy cream to thin it out a bit.

Once the melted chocolates resembles a thick chocolate syrup, take it off the heat and add the mini marshmallows and M&Ms. Mix well and immediately pour into the prepared pan. Spread as evenly as possible.

If desired, top with some finely chopped nuts for a festive feel. We love Walnuts, but almonds or hazelnuts are good options, too.

Refrigerate the Rocky Road Crunch Bars for 2-3 hours, until it hardens. Cut into 16 squares or 8 bars and enjoy with a glass of cold milk or cup of hot chocolate.

Now that you have a tasty (and easy) use for all that leftover candy, you can put it to good use and whip up some Rocky Road Crunch Bars for your next party, or just because!

What candy do YOU have most leftover?

How many days until the jolly man comes visiting? Now your kids can keep track with this fun and festive Countdown to Santa Printable! Featuring that man in red with his sleigh and reindeer flying through the sky, this is a perfect way to countdown to Christmas day.

Have your kids been naughty or nice? What about YOU? 🙂 Either way, he’s checking his list twice, and will soon be on his way to your house. Print off this countdown and stick it on your fridge, frame it and use a dry erase marker over glass, or hang it wherever you like.

Then you can mark each day and know that ‘it’s only THIS MANY days until Santa is here!’ Now the only problem is which kid gets to mark it each day – maybe you’ll rotate and take turns, or just print one of for each to keep in their room if you want. Either way, this is a fun way to track through the month!

Merry Christmas everyone!

We’re so excited to decorate for Christmas this weekend – the bright lights, tree, tinsel and garlands, even a hanging mistletoe. Another thing I love to decorate with are adorable holiday printables! This Holly Jolly Christmas Printable is just perfect – cute, fun and simple enough that it’ll go with any style of decor.

Isn’t it just great – red and green, and very simple for every style. If you wanted, you could print it smaller and use it for cards, note paper, gift tags – oh the possibilities are practically endless!

I love crafts and diy projects year-round, but the holidays tend to bring out my creative side even more so. This awesome list of 20 DIY Stocking Tutorials is perfect for anyone wanting make your own stocking this Christmas! Imagine your kids choosing their own styles and actually HELPING to make it – what a special time together, and a lasting keepsake.

What would YOUR favorite stocking design be?

The holidays can be super busy, and before we know it the month is gone and we didn’t do HALF the things we wanted to. Sound familiar? That’s happened to us every single year, but we want to do something to change it. This fun December Family Activities Calendar is perfect – just one thing you can do each day as a family to enjoy this month together.

It prints off 8.5×11 in size, then you can hang on your fridge, put in a frame, or whatever you desire. Here’s the fun family activities on this calendar:

Hope you have a wonderful December & Christmas with your family!

It’s time to stuff those stockings, and with 4 kids – hopefully 7 by Christmas morning – we definitely need to stick to a budget! Let’s see if we can do that by keeping these stocking stuffers under $10 this year.

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Want a fun and exciting centerpiece for your thanksgiving dinner? One that not only looks great but doubles as a dessert too? Well this Autumn Splendor Centerpiece is sure to impress your guests and it doesn’t cost you an arm and leg to make it.

Autumn Splendor Centerpiece is easy to make and can be changed easily if you need or want. All you need is a simple sugar cookie recipe with frosting, a stick wreath easily found at a craft store, fake pumpkin, candle (whatever color), and some little decorations to go around the top which can be left out if you want.

First get your fake pumpkin and cut a hole in the top large enough to fit your candle. I just used a steak knife which seemed to work great but it did make a little bit of a mess with Styrofoam all over. Place your candle in the whole.

Next if you want you can get little decorations to go around the ring of the pumpkin and candle or you can leave it blank. I found some cool little beads I guess you could call them and pinned them to the pumpkin. Just walk around a craft store and you can find some fun things like maybe leafs, jewels, feathers, anything you would like to dress up your centerpiece.

On your stick wreath (horrible name I know but I don’t really know the technical name for it), place a sheet of cellophane to help support the cookies a little better and so people don’t get any weird sticks in their cookies. Make it a little bigger than the wreath because when you place the pumpkin on it it will come in a little bit. Place decorated pumpkin in the center of the wreath on top of the cellophane.

Make sugar cookies and decorate them. My sugar cookie recipe and frosting is just basic – nothing too fancy, recipes below, and I also didn’t spend hours decorating mine because the only people that saw it was my little nephews and nieces. Feel free to get creative and design however you want. Plain leaves look great on this wreath and doesn’t take forever to decorate. You can get as creative as you want or as simple as you want with the Autumn Splendor Centerpiece.

I cut my cookies into different leafs, acorns, squirrels, turkeys, apples, and a few flowers. Then I just put simple frosting on them in colors of red, yellow, orange, brown. I then froze them and an hour before we sat down pulled them out, placed them around the wreath, not too far out on the wreath so they didn’t fall off but did a few layers and placed in the center of the table. It looked great without all the hard work and I had a great centerpiece and dessert tray.

Sugar cookie and frosting recipes

Cookies – Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ teaspoon almond extract

1 egg

2 teaspoons baking powder

3 cups flour

Cookies – Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar together until smooth. Beat in the extracts and egg.

Mix in baking powder and flour until combined.

Roll out onto a floured surface until about ¼ inch thick and cut into shapes with cookie cutters.

Place on greased cookie sheet and bake for 6-8 minutes. Let completely cool before frosting.

Finding the best gifts for creative kids is right at your fingertips with my gift guide. From craft kits to a Pottery Studio, there are a ton of gift ideas that are just waiting to be discovered. You can find the perfect creative kid gifts whether they’re young or old, boy or girl!

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By giving kids an outlet for their creativity, we create an environment where kids want to learn. Through art and creating kids learn how to solve problems, brainstorm, and they also learn about expressing themselves through an acceptable outlet.

Yarn Tree Kit: Make two trees that can be used to keep jewelry safe and on display.

Waterbrush Pens: Use this set of pens with watercolors to create different art techniques. Pair this with a paint pad and set of watercolors for an art kit gift any kid would love to receive.

Glow in the Dark Marshmallow Shooter Kit: These little shooters are a lot of fun. I think kids take a little more pride in their toys when they build it themselves. They could even get more creative and make their own targets.

Star Wars Felt: Every creative kid will have a blast creating characters from their favorite Star Wars films!

Give your beloved furry friends some great items this year with these Best Pet Gifts. They show love and friendship to you all year, so treat them a little extra special this holilday and show them just how much you care.

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I found some pretty cool and exciting items such as this Pet Teepee and a Play Petcube, that actually lets you check in and play with your pet (through your mobile device) while you’re away from home. I think you’ll also get a kick out of this Interactive Laser Pet Toy.

Tis the season for gift giving. If you have any bloggers on your holiday list this year (like me!), this gift guide should help you find that special gift. Bloggers love to write, and they’re usually very creative and crafty, which is why you’ll find a variety of odds and ends on my list. There’s a variety of price ranges as well, to help you stay within your budget. So browse this gift guide and find the Best Blogger Gifts for any bloggers on your list!

HP Envy Laptop: If you have big things in mind for the blogger on your list, look no further.

Show your blogging buddy some love by gifting something they will use everyday. You can always bundle a few of the smaller gifts together, slip them in a cute reusable bag along with a gift card to their favorite store for the ultimate blogging gift.

Share your best gift ideas for bloggers in the comments and let’s add a few more ideas to the list.

Do you have a pre-teen on your holiday shopping list? As you probably already know, this can be a tough age to shop for. Finding the right gift won’t be hard this year with a little help from my gift guide that has the Best Pre-Teen Gifts!

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I found some great items that pre-teens would LOVE to receive as a gift this Christmas. There’s a little bit of everything in this gift guide from a Fashion Studio to a Metal Detector. Get the wrapping paper ready…. you’re about to find the perfect gift!

Kutie Kats: Cute magnetic charms that can be changed out on a charm bracelet. All held together in an even cuter tin.

60 Gel Pen Set: Nice set of get pens with a ton of colors. Great gift idea for kids who love to draw or color.

Cozmo: This high tech robot starts showing his true colors once you get to programming him. Teach him how to stack blocks and much more.

da Vinci miniMaker 3D Printer: Print 3D objects at home. What an incredible piece of technology to have at our fingertips – I bet any pre-teen would LOVE to receive this as a gift!

Kidz Bop 33: Do you get sick of switching radio channels when inappropriate songs come on in front of your kids? My pre-teen LOVES kidz bop because she can listen to the latest hits and rock out, without the worry of anything inappropriate ruining her groove 🙂

While my other gift guides have focused a lot on ideas for the younger ones and family fun, I wanted to make one that’s full of kitchen and home gifts! Whether for your mother, friend, sister – or yourself, you’ll find something for practically everyone on your list.

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You’ll find some traditional items such as candles, and some more modern gift ideas like a Gourmet Egg Cooker. I think you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for, even if you end up buying yourself a kitchen and home gift for the holidays!

Hangit Photo Display: Put your favorite photos on display and change them out without the fuss of messing with a picture frame.

If you are looking for a holiday gift that compliments your home, these Canisters With Lids For Sugar, Coffee, & Tea give the kitchen a bit of holiday glam. You could also pick up a traditional Yankee Candle that is scented like balsam and cedar. Whatever gift you choose, I know you will be bringing joy to someone special on your list.